Always On Culture -It is everyone's responsibility

Always-On Culture

“She was working over weekend and we should promote her for this hard work”? Statements that are quite common to hear in corporate life where being Always On is a badge of honour and sacrificing personal and family time to be available for official duties is celebrated as being sincere towards your work. ??

Last week during my annual break I realised that there was this alignment meeting that was crucial and had all important stakeholders present whose approval was key for my project to move ahead.?I had anticipated this so before I left for the annual break I had completed all necessary home work needed for this meeting to be successful and done the proper handover. I was enjoying my break with this meeting still in the back of my head -

“What if they ask for this data point?”?

“Will they give a go ahead for that intervention?”

All these questions would stay with me while I was enjoying the scenic beauty of Ladakh. Then came the day when the meeting was scheduled and even though I was on a planned off I decided to login to just be there for the meeting and be on top of things. What is important to note is that no one pushed me to join. It was my sheer sense of urgency and pressure to be always on that nudged me to join.I made it a point to join 5 mins late so no one can notice my presence and yet I will be updated about what is happening?in the meeting. There was a point around which I couldn’t control my urge to answer and ended up unmuting myself and answering the question that was being discussed. That gave me a sense of completeness and pride that me sacrificing my personal and family time to attend this meeting was all worth it.

I was basking under the glory of my sincerity towards work when suddenly I receive a personal message on zoom from one of the SVPs in the org saying - “Aren’t you on a family vacation in Ladakh” to which I was eager to respond “Yes, still in Ladakh but just joined for this meeting as this was a crucial one.” All pumped up with my reply and still basking in the glory of answering a question which no one else in meeting would have known had I not been here I continued with active participation in the meeting. It had been barely 2 minutes when the same leader pinged me saying “You are setting a bad example for others when you are working on a vacation Kushal”. Not the reply I was anticipating, till now I was the sincere one who was prioritising work and finding ways to join from Leh - a place which still is getting acclimatised to the idea of 24*7 net connectivity. My immediate reaction was what does he mean by “setting a bad example”. I am doing the right thing, being available against all odds for a crucial meeting, but when I gave it a good thought I realised that How naive and ignorant my action is.

This leader was right in saying that I am setting a bad example. When I decide to show up for a meeting at a time when I am supposed to be on a break, it is me telling my colleagues that this is normal and an expected norm from all. I am insinuating that sincerity towards work trumps over family time, personal time. The call ended and I wondered about the statement about me setting a bad example. Now with enough time in hand to analyse this I came to the conclusion I was actually being a part of the "Always on" culture. A culture which is highly contagious and spreads across quickly, with one tiny exception done with the best of intentions setting an expectation for others to follow.

One may also debate about the fact about what is wrong with being Always On and it is a personal choice but what is worth remembering is that all our actions put together and what we consider as accepted behaviour ends up becoming CULTURE in any organisation. By voicing that my action of mine was setting a bad example that leader helped me understand how in my quest to come across as sincere, I was doing an irreparable damage to the cultural thread of the org. This was an important realisation and something that helped me see past my insecurity about being Always On.

An Always On culture is harmful for both employees and an organisation, harmful for the organisation because it is a big distractor for the whole idea of psychological safety - a must in any org and harmful for the individual because they are also inadvertently becoming a part of the problem and pushing the Always On culture as an expected behaviour for survival in the organisation.

My this moment of realisation is something I felt like sharing, Happy to hear your thoughts on the small anecdote that I shared and learn from the community.